Angela M. Ross and Richard A. Hays, Naval Surface Warfare Center; Andrew Seelinger, Naval Sea Systems Command; John C. Wegand, SET Inc.; Karin Thomas, Science and Engineering Technologies Inc; Richard Parks, RPTC / VSE; Colin Quarmby, RPCT
The U.S. Navy currently spends approximately 25% of its maintenance funds on corrosion prevention, control, and remediation. As a result, the Navy is continually looking for new technologies that will reduce costs associated with corrosion. Two factors that contribute to the costs associated with anti-corrosion coatings are premature failure due to improper mixing and disposal of unused material as hazardous waste. Marine paints have traditionally been supplied in 5 gallon containers. This type of packaging is not conducive to accurate mixing of two component epoxy coatings and can result in the application of off-ratio material. In addition, too much paint is often mixed for a specific job resulting in an increased waste stream associated with coating operations. Commercially developed disposable dispensing paint cartridges were evaluated as an enhanced packaging system for use by Navy shipboard personnel. The evaluation consisted of performing side-by-side shipboard coating applications using traditionally packaged paint and paint cartridges. Metrics including cost per square foot, schedule enhancement (i.e., time saved in paint application), and amount of waste generated were collected in an attempt to quantify the benefits and identify limitations associated with cartridge use. This paper presents the metrics collected during the side-by-side evaluation and provides a summary of lessons learned.
